Sunday, October 28, 2007

Big fire by Welzorg on 8 October in Almere. During the night a huge fire burned down Welzorg's central depot in Holland. Apparently there were aprox. 3500 scooters and 3000 wheelchairs burned as well as other mobility aids. The building is gutted and now they will have to work out whose mobility aids were there.

Welzorg has centralised its refurbishment activities in its Central Warehouse in Almere. Yearly, more than 17.000 mobility aids are refurbished and prepared in Almere.

IntroductionWelzorg is the specialist company in mobility aids for the elderly and handicapped. Welzorg aims to increase the independence of the elderly and handicapped at home, in society and at work. To achieve this we provide services and mobility aids at a price that is convenient both from a social and a business economical perspective.”

Source Welzorg website.

Very interesting reading that and you would be forgiven in thinking that people with disabilities were well looked after. But nothing could be further from the truth, just within my own group of friends and acquaintances I know of 5 people plus myself who have been badly let down by Welzorg and not at all helped to stay mobile.

One waited for 9 months for the correct new tyres, he had numerous appointments in that time and heard a variety of excuses such as a couple of times that the wrong tire was sent from the U.S or he had brought the wrong one or it was the wrong size and a couple of times the advisor was sick or on holiday.

Another one found that after numerous meetings with the Welzorg adviser in January this year and many meetings for fittings. Finally after months of eagerly waiting for her desperately needed new wheelchair it arrived but was not the right size and therefore totally unsafe and unusable for her. Now more than nine months later she still has not got her new wheelchair and is being limited in her mobility.

Another two had constant problems with their mobility scooters problems that were never properly resolved and meant they were constantly phoning the helpdesk. Even a simple situation such as a puncture which needed mending can take several phone calls and at least a couple of failed appointments before its mended and they could leave their homes and get out.

And finally the friend who also had constant problems with his mobility scooter problems that was never properly mended and perhaps could have been resolved quicker by giving him a new scooter. They will be now, as they took his scooter for repairs in July and somehow mislaid it and did not tell him. Him they told a couple of times it was taking longer, once they even brought the wrong scooter then said isn’t yours?? After another period of silence they said Oops we can’t seem to find yours! And finally they admitted they knew it was lost for ages and they had not been honest with him.

And I have waited a year to get my wheelchair for daily use. The whole process started in October 2006 and now many appointments and fittings later I finally got my wheelchair for daily use on Thursday 25 October 2007. Hurrah, hurrah!! Sadly I still can’t use it as the Welzorg advisor did not adjust the brakes for me so I can not put the brakes on independently.

He also did not adjust the backrest so its not giving me any support. Additionally I need longer brake handles as I can’t reach these at all well but apparently this is not possible likewise its not possible to get a broad strap on the frame at calf height to stop my feet falling into the space under my chair through a bad spasm which can cause me to flip out of the wheelchair.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

We had our first tennants association meeting yesterday. Nine people showed up and were very enthusiastic and thanked us for our iniative. One person arrived as we were leaving but we stayed long enough to brief him.

They all backed up our call for action on a variety of points such as the metal walkways and the over heavy and cumbersome security gates as well as the metal stairs.

It totally confirmed for us that joint actin is good it brings people together and forces housing companies to take action.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Monday, October 08, 2007

Had a great monday, thats a nice start to the week, woke up happy after a good nights sleep.

Brilliant visit from Paula today we talked about everything, laughed and cried together the afternoon went by in a flash.

We feasted on bakkeljauw broodjes, saltfish rolls very nice with lots of peppersauce and hot peppery olives and mini doughnuts, mandarins washed down with raspberry and echinea tea and pomegranat juice lovely stuff!